After serving in the public sector for nine years -- at all three levels of government -- Michael Locatis is heading back to the private sector.

Most recently, Locatis served as assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Cybersecurity and Communications for the Obama administration and adviser to the secretary on FirstNet and the National Public Safety Broadband Network.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano noted that during his time in this position, Locatis presided over a period of immense transition for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C). "Your efforts to realign CS&C have created a more agile organization that will strengthen the interagency response to cyber attacks and enhance the resilience of federal civilian networks," she wrote in a letter to Locatis dated Jan. 31, 2013.

Before holding this position, Locatis was CIO of the U.S. Department of Energy, where he oversaw the implementation of Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service and the Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center (JC3), which he said applies a proactive approach to risk management and improves situational awareness, incident management and cross-agency collaboration.

And prior to his work at the federal level, Locatis was CIO of Denver and then the state of Colorado, followed by time as deputy CIO and transition adviser for the state of California.

During this nine years working for government, Locatis says he is most proud of building high-performance, transformative teams within government and breaking the government employee stereotype -- something he did at each public-sector position he held. "Many government employees," he said, "are extremely bright, incredibly capable, motivated and resourceful people looking for disruptive change."

And now, he will serve as a consultant for global communications group Grayling, helping clients prepare, respond and recover in the event of a cyberattack. Locatis' company, Nexusist, has become a Grayling affiliate in order to provide integrated communications services, according to a press release.

"The public-sector experience has equipped me well to re-enter the private sector," Locatis said, "and use my rich experience I've gained to innovate, create economic opportunity and jobs, and continue to serve the nation."

With many educational organizations shifting their entire schedules to distance learning tools or full virtual environments indefinitely, never has the statement “we are all in this together” been more poignant.